Nein! No zombies for Germany

We love us some German zombies, but Germany doesn’t love zombies at all. Due to the country’s law prohibiting violence against human-like characters, Dead Island Riptide will not be released in Germany.

Oddly enough, the game is partly developed in Germany, Dead Island Riptide creative producer Sebastian Reichert seems to be quite upset about it, and in my opinion, rightfully so. Reichert makes a valid statement by calling the law out on Gears of War 3.

At the moment I’m really confused that you can buy Gears of War 3 in stores in Germany, but not Dead Island. Because where’s the difference? I mean, [the enemies in Gears of War] are human-like, and the things you do to them… ah, they really have nice finishers! That flamethrower finisher, he rams the flamethrower into the body, pulls the trigger and the flames come out of every body part. That’s in stores. He said.

This of course raises many questions around most games that are shooters or has killing in it. Technically any game with a corpse in it, which you are able to aim at and shoot or stab it, should be banned? But they aren’t, so what happened behind the scenes? Who got offended by this game personally high up the chain to disallow it? What could possibly be the explanation for allowing Gears of War 3 and not Dead Island?

Reichert explains more about this law saying that “It doesn’t matter what [the enemies] are, as long as they’re human-like then you have a problem. For Dead Island in particular it was a problem that you could attack the zombies when they are dead, because that’s mutilation of corpses.” Since the game will have no censored version, it won’t be released in Germany.

Dead Island: Riptide is set to release in April next year, while the rest of the world will be indulging in glorious zombie pwning ,Germany will not.

I like bacon and games, and occasionally I say something coherent about it. I'm not old or cynical, and I'm not the Dork Knight. I AM SHE-RA! Wait, what? View all posts by Yolanda →